During the past few weeks, our house has been invaded by small tortoiseshell butterflies. They seemed determined to enter the house through open doors and windows, and then find refuge behind curtains or blinds where they appear to be quite happy to remain. Needless to say, I caught them and gently returned them to the big wide world of this year’s lovely English summer.

These are one of our most common butterflies, easily identified by their orange and black wings with blackand- white markings along the front edges. They are a smaller version of the large tortoiseshell which is by no means as numerous, and most gardens will have welcomed small tortoiseshells this year.

As I puzzled over their determination to get indoors, wondering if they were hiding from the very hot weather, I was in the George Hotel at Easingwold when I was told by my host that one of the bedrooms had been colonised by 43 small tortoiseshells who were clustered in a group in a corner of the ceiling.

It seems they were not trying to avoid the hot weather. These butterflies survive the winter as butterflies, not chrysalises, becoming active as early as mid-March. By the time the early days of August arrive, they are ready to hibernate, and this is when and why they enter our houses, garages and sheds. They prefer quiet dry corners of ceilings, or beneath pelmets and behind curtains.

In the case of the George, they were the perfect guests – quiet and unobtrusive, not eating or drinking too much and spending a lot of time asleep even if their accommodation was free. But in selecting a good hotel in which to spend the winter, it seems they knew what they were doing even if they were woken early to accommodate paying guests.